Capstone Projects
High school seniors in Oakland Unified School District are required to complete a year-long capstone project. Sequoia Foundation has supported over fifty students across three high schools on their air quality capstone projects.
Preliminary Research Support
Using a mapping activity, the ScholAir facilitator helped students refine their research question and topic. For this activity, students brainstorm different subtopics within their main topic to determine which components they may want to research.
The next activity was designed to help students understand the kind of information they may seek from someone they would interview, versus the information they would access from an internet search. Students distinguished two different kinds of knowledge they would generate from their research process: “General Knowledge,” which includes that an be found with a simple Google search, or information that does not need to be quoted or cited, and “Personal Knowledge,” which includes information that can only be found by interviewing someone with personal experience related to that topic (also known as “primary research”), or information that is quoted and either involves a personal opinion or a first-hand account.
Capstone Presentations
At the end of the school year, students presented their capstone research to lower grade levels, teachers, and community partners. ScholAir provided presentation practice workshops to give students the opportunity to refine their slides and practice public speaking. Below are highlights from air quality-focused presentations created by students who participated ScholAir support activities.
